What Does Sedation Dentistry Feel Like?

If you’re an anxious dental patient, there can be much about a visit to the dentist that makes you fearful or uncomfortable. While dental sedation is made to ease discomfort and relax patients, if you’re new to sedation and aren’t sure what to expect, even this may make you feel anxious.

We welcome fearful dental patients for comfortable care with dental sedation in our Austin, TX dental office. To help clarify what sedation feels like, in order to make the procedure transparent for our anxious patients, you can expect the following:

Sleepiness or Grogginess

Oral conscious sedation produces feelings of relaxation by using common anti-anxiety medication that puts you at-ease and promote tranquility. While the medication may make you want to go to sleep, not all patients fall asleep while sedated. Coupled with its amnesiac properties, this sedated feeling of sleepiness can make you feel as though you are actually asleep, but you will still be conscious enough to ask and answer questions of our dental team.

Momentary Amnesia

In many cases, sedation is meant to produce an amnesiac affect. After your appointment is complete, you won’t be able to recall the time you spent during treatment, even though you were conscious. For patients who have had previous bad experiences at a dental office, knowing that they won’t remember sights, sounds, or smells from their dental visit is comforting, as these can sometimes trigger feelings of anxiety. This amnesiac effect wears off as the medication’s effects wane over the course of a few hours. For patients who chose nitrous oxide, these effects can be reversed quickly through the inhalation of pure oxygen.

Feelings of Relaxation Post-Treatment

Depending on how long it takes the medication to work its way through your system, this feeling of tranquility and deep relaxation can last for a few hours. We recommend that you take some time to rest at home after your sedation appointment as the medication wears off. Patients who undergo oral conscious sedation will not be permitted to operate machinery, such as driving themselves to and from their appointment.

If you have any questions or concerns about sedation dentistry, call our Austin dental office for more information. Dr. Gotun and his team are happy to help anxious patients find an easier, worry-free way to get oral health care through dental sedation.